Chapter 1319: The Fruit of the Foundation

After the departure of the Queen and the King, one of the Guardians of the Tree went to the middle of the hall and touched the pattern on the floor with his palm.

A soft glow ran across the white stone slabs. Idan noticed that the guests on the opposite side of the room were beginning to leave.

At the same time, the central platform began to descend smoothly. A sheer stone wall appeared along its edge, growing taller as the bottom went down.

Soon, a huge circular arena was spread out in front of the guests. They stayed above, on the wide ring platform that surrounded her on all sides.

"The Challenge Circle is open," announced the Guardian of the Tree, standing in the center of the Arena.

A Princess descended from the ring platform into the arena, smoothly levitating.

Arabel wanted to say how she flies without wings, but then she remembered that after reaching the sixth rank, everyone gains the ability to fly without wings.

Princess looked around the audience with her green eyes, the same as the Queen’s, and announced:

"In order to support the young and give them an incentive, the Royal Family decided to give three participants of the Challenge Circle, who will be able to win three challenges in a row, one the fruit of the Magic Tree."

As soon as Princess uttered the word "fruit of the Magic Tree," the crowd burst into applause and excitement.

"To be more precise, the Royal Family provides three fruits of the Foundation."

Upstairs at the table, Idan and Arabel exchanged glances.

"The fruit of the Magic Tree? The fruit of the Foundation?"

It was the first time they had heard of something like this.

"This is one of the several types of fruits that grow on the Magic Tree," Saelis told them, whose attitude had become friendlier after talking to Arabel.

"In particular, this ’Fruit of the Foundation’ is useful for those who have reached the fifth rank, as it helps in forming the foundation of the law or improving an already formed foundation."

"Wait, wait," Arabel almost jumped up from her seat, "did you say that this ’’Fruit of the Foundation’ is capable of improving the Foundation of the Law?"

If that was indeed the case, then this fruit represented one of the resources that she and her husband needed to improve their foundation of laws.

Of course, there were Law Seeds that they could purchase from the System, but each seed was valued at 10,000 System Points.

"Yes," Saelis confirmed, and immediately Arabel and Idan’s eyes flashed with interest and excitement. "Wait a minute, do you really want these Fruits too?"

Idan and Arabel did not respond. As soon as Saelis confirmed, the System gave each of them a separate task.

[Ding! A task has been issued. "Take part in the Challenge Circle and win the Fruit of the Foundation."]

[Reward for successful completion of a task is System Experience]

If Idan and Arabel had any doubts about participating in the Challenge Circle, they disappeared after receiving the tasks from the System.

While they were studying the task, the first participant jumped into the arena, a red—haired elf with bronze skin, dressed in scarlet robes.

It was the Elf of the Eternal Flame.

All eyes were on him, but he was looking in a certain direction—at a group of elves from the Kingdom of Bottomless Waters.

The Elf of the Eternal Flame didn’t say a word, but at that moment, a young elf jumped down from the group of the Elf of the Bottomless Waters into the arena. His long blue hair was braided into a pigtail, and his skin had a light azure hue.

Arabel wondered, watching the elves come out. "Shouldn’t they come to an agreement first?"

Saelis laughed softly.

"Their masters must have already discussed everything."

"Even before the disciples came out?" Arabel looked at her curiously.

"These two are disciples of old rivals," Weira spoke up. "At every opportunity, their masters find out who taught their disciple better. I would rather be surprised if they stayed in their seats today."

"And who usually wins?" asked Idan.

"When and how. I think that’s why their masters can’t calm down."

"And the disciples?" asked Arabel.

Weira looked at Saelis, and she smiled, shifting her gaze to the arena.

"As you can see, too."

The atmosphere around the Elf of the Eternal Flame began to heat up, and his body began to turn intensely red. At the same time, a thin and transparent layer of blue armor formed on his opponent’s body.

Whoosh.

Both started moving at the same time, rushing towards each other, and turned into blurred spots of red and blue colors.

Boom!

There was a crash from the collision of fire and water, and a shockwave swept through the arena, but was neutralized before it reached the observation area.

Idan and Arabel’s eyes darted after the red and blue spots, trying in vain to catch their movements.

"Too fast!"

Their eyes couldn’t keep up with them.

Both of them activated [Ghost Stats] and boosted their [Dexterity] stats.

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Arabel.

_Dexterity – 396 + 387 = 783

Idan.

_Dexterity – 358 + 377 = 735

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Their stats reached the peak Diamond rank, and only then were they able to clearly discern the movements of these two elves.

"Can you keep up with them?" asked Saelis with a smile, ignoring Weira’s disapproving look.

In response, she received an affirmative nod from the couple, and her smile froze. She was sure that it was not easy for the platinum ranks to keep track of the movements of the two peak diamond ranks.

Amazement seized not only her, but everyone present, with the exception of Eulalia.

The duel lasted quite a long time and was very fierce.

It was more important for these two elves to surpass each other than to save their strength for future challenges. They gave themselves wholeheartedly, although everyone realized that the winner still had to defend his position in the arena. However, personal rivalry turned out to be stronger than the desire to obtain the Fruit of the Foundation.

As a result, only the Elf of the Eternal Flame remained on his feet, and his opponent could no longer continue the duel.

There was a standing ovation from the side where the Eternal Flame Kingdom’s group was watching.

The loser was taken away by his Master.

Immediately after that, a young elf jumped down from the side of the same elves of the Kingdom of Bottomless Waters.

Even before the start of the match, everyone knew the outcome.

The weakened and beaten Elf of the Eternal Flame was quickly defeated, giving way to this Elf of the Bottomless Waters in the arena.